God of Light, Music, Prophecy, and Medicine
Son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis, and mythology’s all-around top student: the sun-chariot, the golden bow, the lyre, and the Delphic oracle are all his. Greeks and Romans called him by the same name — even the Romans felt this one needed no renaming.
Just four days old, Apollo slew Python, the serpent coiled at Delphi, and founded there the most authoritative oracle of the ancient world. "Know thyself" was carved over the temple door, and kings came to consult the oracle before going to war.
Apollo mocked little Eros’s archery, so Eros loosed two arrows: a golden one that made Apollo burn with love for the river-nymph Daphne, and a leaden one that made Daphne flee him. Cornered at last, Daphne turned into a laurel tree. Apollo wove its leaves into a crown — the origin of the "poet laureate."
In the Trojan War, Agamemnon seized the daughter of Apollo’s priest and insulted the old man. Apollo’s silver bow rained arrows on the Greek camp for nine nights and plague swept through. The very first conflict of the entire Iliad begins with his arrows.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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